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INSIDECOSTARICA.COM
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CENTRAL AMERICA
NEWS BRIEFS
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Tuesday 12 April 2011 |
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Corruption
Case
Shakes
El
Salvador
San
Salvador
-
The
arrest
of a
former
health
minister
on
corruption
charges
is
shaking
the
country.
Guillermo
Maza,
health
minister
in the
Nationalist
Republican
Alliance
(ARENA)-led
administration
from
2004 to
2009,
and
eight
others
were
accused
of
defrauding
the
state of
more
than
three
million
USD in
the
reconstruction
of a
hospital
damaged
by the
2001
earthquakes.
The
Attorney
General's
Office
accused
the
detainees
of
aggravated
fraud,
use and
possession
of false
documents,
illegal
negotiations,
arbitrary
actions
for
fraud,
and
other
crimes.
The
Farabundo
Marti
National
Liberation
Front (FMLN)
welcomed
the
investigations
that
exposed
a web of
corruption
in the
ARENA
government,
which
ruled
from
1989 to
2009.
The
government
reiterates
its firm
support
for the
fight
against
the
theft of
public
finances
at the
expense
of the
human
rights
of the
population.
The FMLN
said
these
events
confirm
the
consistent
claims
made by
the
party to
the
prosecution,
to the
Government
Ethics
Tribunal
and to
the
Court of
Auditors
against
the
former
ARENA
officials.
Maza,
who was
arrested
last
Tuesday,
is
accused
of
authorizing
out-of-contract
payments
for
extra
costs
submitted
by the
contractor
hired to
rebuild
the
Santa
Teresa
Hospital
in
Zacatecoluca,
in the
central
department
of La
Paz.
He also
authorized
payments
for
medical
equipment
that was
never
delivered
and the
whereabouts
of which
is
unknown.
Within
the
investigation,
prosecutor
Adela
Saravia
talked
about
the
acquisition
by the
Health
Ministry
of
Health
of a
loan for
142
million
USD to
rebuild
seven
hospitals
damaged
by
earthquakes
in 2001.
In May
2010,
following
the
change
of
government,
that
ministry
filed a
complaint
for
misappropriation
of
equipment
for the
hospital
Zacatecoluca.
Saravia
said the
total
amount
of the
fraud to
the
state
amounts
to
3,242,563
USD.
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Costa Rica's Daily English News
Source
Apdo. 2133-1000, San José, Costa
Rica
Tel: (506) 2231 3205 / (506) 8399
9642
Fax: (506) 2232 6337
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